Newsreel:Padawan Lost: Turmoil in the Outer Rim! Located near a major hyperspace lane, the planet Felucia is caught in an unending battle between Republic and Separatist forces. Clone tank divisions make a valiant push deep into Separatist- controlled territory, led by Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

General Grievous, learning of the impending Jedi attack, has dispatched reinforcements to one of his droid outposts, hoping to secure his grip on the system...

Wookiee Hunt: Jedi abducted! Ahsoka Tano is missing in action. Captured and released into a hostile jungle, she fights to stay alive with the help of a small band of Jedi younglings.

As Anakin Skywalker scours the galaxy desperate to find his lost apprentice, Trandoshan sport hunters track their youngling prey.

With the death of their leader Kalifa, and separated from their friends, we find Ahsoka on the run as the hunters close in around her....

Episode Guide Synopsis:

Padawan Lost: Ahsoka and a group of abducted younglings find themselves trapped on a Trandoshan moon, prey in an elaborate and cruel hunt. The forlorn younglings have lost all hope, despite the best efforts of their spirited leader, Kalifa. Ahsoka rallies them to defend themselves and strike back against the Trandoshan, an effort with deadly consequences.

Wookiee Hunt: As Ahsoka and her youngling allies struggle to evade the Trandoshan hunters, their efforts receive an unexpected boost when a new captive -- Chewbacca the Wookiee -- arrives. Chewie scrounges parts from a wrecked Trandoshan slave ship, assembling a communicator to send out a distress signal. Help arrives in the towering, shaggy form of Wookiee warriors led by General Tarfful. Freed from captivity, Ahsoka returns to the Jedi Temple and is reunited with Anakin Skywalker.

One of the benefits of being the Supervising Director of the Clone Wars is that you get to pick and choose what episodes you direct. Well Dave Filoni certainly picked a couple great episodes to take the reigns of and close Season 3 with a bang...err growl as it were.

As I discussed in the Preview for the season finale, the two episodes were written by Bonnie Mark who is a writer with television writing experience on hour long dramas like NYPD Blue, Homicide and Third Watch.
With the level of animation, acting, and production talent on this show there is no reason that the writers cannot take this show in a more complicated and mature direction. I think what we have seen in The Clone Wars is the evolution of storytelling that is raising the bar for what we should expect from animated shows and so called "kids shows." There is no reason that animation cannot be done on the small screen like it is done by Pixar and others on the big screen, with stories that work on multiple levels and for multiple age grouped audiences. It feels like this is the direction that The Clone Wars is going and its being done in an organic, evolutionary way. Some of the nuances of some stories may be lost on younger children, but challenging them to think is only a good thing.

The story itself is top notch, not only the main plot (Ahsoka), but the secondary plot (Anakin) is very well done. The Anakin plot also does a lot to build his character and in my opinion foreshadows and helps explain the fear and desperation that we see driving him in Episode III.

This story I think also puts the Mandalore arc from the first half of season 3 into perspective. Episode 3.6 "The Academy," saw Ahsoka travel to Mandalore and take the role of teacher and mentor to some young Mandolorians. This experience helps Ahsoka grow and gives her experience interacting with younger people who look to her as the older more experienced person. This is a change from her leadership role with Clone Troopers, and also a change from her role as Padawan/student as a Jedi.

We are also seeing Ahsoka starting to really pile up a body count. While she is not on the Jack Bauer ("24") role yet, she certainly has something against saurian alien species it appears. First Osi Sobeck and now the Trandoshans. If I am a Barabel, I am walking on the opposite side of the street then Ahsoka.

One of my favorite parts of the episode was the jet pack scene in "Padawan Lost." It was a little thing, but after Plo Koon tells his troopers to follow him and then Force leaps over the wall, I was laughing. I'm thinking in my head, what kind of sarcastic responses the troopers must have been muttering under their breaths. But then they had jet packs and did follow him. A nice little surprise.

Lots of deaths in these episodes, but I think they all worked well for story telling purposes.

The closing scene had a very interesting look on Yoda's face as he gazed at Ahsoka and Anakin walking away. My interpretation was that he was pondering Anakin's reactions and trying to determine how he was doing with his attachment issue. This brings this episode very nicely in line with The Clone Wars movie and Yoda's explanation of the introduction of a Padawan to Anakin. As he is watching Ahsoka and Anakin leave, I think Yoda is sinking into the Force and I am not sure from his animated reaction whether he was happy, bemused or contemplative with what he felt.

The biggest surprise for me was that the season finale didn't really end on a cliff hanger. It was a pretty clean storytelling break. I was expecting a little more of a "...to be continued." ending to Season 3.

II) Acting:

Ashley Eckstein is getting pretty good at this acting thing. Matt Lanter really had me feeling Episode III Anakin in this one. Solid job all around.

Wow...

III) Animation:

I would so move to Wasskah. Its real pretty looking especially at night. I really liked the little floating yellow criters. To cute. The scene with Anakin and Plo Koon in the Jedi Temple looks like a brilliant painting.

IV) New Characters/Planets/Vehicles:

Trandoshan Slave Ship

Wasskah, Moon

Wolf Pack

Wampa Throne.. Space Pimp

Trandoshan Hunting Pod

Kalifa, One and Done

Redshirt

O-Mer and Jinx

Trandoshan Hunting Base

Sugi, Serapis and Tarfful to the rescue

Tarfful

Wookiee Backrub

V) Continuity Clashes: "How I learned to stop worrying and love the ret-cons."

"Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have." ~ Yoda, Revenge of the Sith

Its nice when Star Wars media serves to enrich the tapestry of continuity instead of creating snags in that tapestry. In the case of the Season 3 Finale, I think we got a lot of enrichment without any major clashes with continuity. I have already discussed how the events of the finale enrich the story of Anakin. But one of the last scenes in "Wookiee Hunt," immediately made me think of Yoda from Episode III. In "Wookiee Hunt" after rescuing Chewbacca, Ahsoka and the younglings we see a huddle of Wookies on a platform on Coruscant. When that huddle breaks up, who is at the center but Master Yoda. Its a small touch but it takes a line from the movies and gives it added depth.

VI) Rating This Episode:

The first half of the season finale "Padawan Lost," was really solid, but its tough to give it the same or a higher grade then "Wookiee Hunt." I would give "Padawan Lost" a 8.0 and "Wookie Hunt" a 9.0. Combined the Clone Wars Season 3 finale gets a 8.5. Very solid duology. My advice to you, let the Wookiee win.

Did anyone else catch Jar Jar's head mounted on the wall? (I know its another Gungan but lets pretend.. )

VII) Next on The Clone Wars:

SEASON 4: ?????????????????

Unfortunately Season 3 is now over and we will have a bit of a wait for new Clone Wars. What will we see in Season 4? I am not sure yet, but if I was a betting man. A Darth Maul/Savage Opress arc and possibly a larger overarching arc involving Maul for the whole season. I think we see continued independence of Ahsoka from Anakin, possibly with solo missions and team ups with other Jedi like Plo Koon. Visits to some new worlds. It would be cool to make a trip to Corellia. Hopefully now that they have the character models we see a Republic Commando arc.

Don't forget to keep visiting Lightsaber Rattling as we will be updating with the latest news and rumors for Clone Wars: Season 4 as news breaks.

In what looks to be an epic mash-up of John Hughes and Star Wars, the fanfilm Hughes The Force has released a teaser trailer for the film due out sometime this summer. If you enjoyed the movie Weird Science then this looks to be right up your alley. This one looks like fun.

The Maker, George Lucas recently was part of a panel at the CinemaCon, movie theater industry convention, discussing the future of the film industry. His prediction....three dimensions.

"So now when you're watching a movie and it's not in 3-D, it's like watching in black and white," Lucas told a crowd of theater owners at their CinemaCon convention. "It's a better way of looking at a film. ... I totally believe now that 3-D will completely take over just like color did."

"We have our third generation now of kids who are under 12 years old who have never seen 'Star Wars' on the big screen," Lucas said. "And I am betting a lot of people will go see a movie that they have seen on television a million times and they have the video at home, and they will go and see it because they want to see it in the theater in a social experience."

Timothy Zahn's celebrated Star Wars Expanded Universe novel Heir to the Empire has reached its 20th anniversary and to celebrate it Lucas Books and Del Rey is releasing a special hardcover 20th Anniversary edition complete with annotations from Timothy Zahn and others involved in the making of the book.

Leading up to the June 21st release of this book, Star Wars Book on Facebook (Del Rey's official Star Wars Facebook site) will be teasing fans with excerpts from select annotations.

The third annotation released on Facebook:

"Originally, I had had Rukh and his fellows being Sith, keying off Vader's title of Lord of the Sith. Since at that point the term hadn't been defined, I figured I was safe. But Lucasfilm was concerned that George would want to use the Sith at some future date (which, as we all know, he did) and told me to pick some other term for them." --Timothy Zahn

This is one that some fans had heard before and some fans have not. I think its interesting in that it illustrates just how far the Star Wars universe has expanded from the small snapshot of it we got in the movies.

A reminder, today is the last day to enter Lightsaber Rattling's Book Giveaway. I will be conducting the random drawing tomorrow morning and email the two winners. Entries must be in by 12 am Pacific Standard Time tonight.

Thanks and May the Force Be With You...

On March 14th, Lightsaber Rattling passed 50,000 page views. I am really excited about this, as I started the this little blog as a way to channel my passion for Star Wars.

I never really thought anyone other then myself would visit the blog regularly but I am pleased to see that people are giving Lightsaber Rattling a chance. As a way to say thank you to my fellow Star Wars fans I am going to hold a give away.

We are going to have 2 winners: One Winner will receive Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams in Hardcover. The other Winner will receive Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast by Aaron Allston in Paperback.

Fatal Alliance is the first of the TOR Tie in novels and is a massive book.

Outcast is the first book in the current FotJ series and is a great jumping off point in the modern EU.

3 Easy Steps To ENTER:

Email me at: Lightsaberrattling@gmail.com

Subject Line: "Star Wars Giveaway"

Message Body: Fatal Alliance or Outcast and your First name.

(Choose which book to enter for, only 1 entry per person please.)

WINNERS will be announced via the website on Thursday March 31st. Winners will then be contacted via email for shipping address and as soon as I can get to the post office, the books will be in the mail.

In response to a question regarding the rumored Star Wars eBook releases on 8/17/11 as posted yesterday, Star Wars Book on Facebook posted a reply today. Del Rey Editor Erich Shoeneweiss (ES) had this to say:

As we've been saying for some time, we're working hard with Lucasfilm to make ebooks available as soon as possible for all the novels. It's a complicated process and not one that happens quickly. While the information that is being posted and talked about on other sites sprang from info on a Random House website it's common practice for Random House to use temporary data as placeholders until plans for books are finalized. When the time is right Random House and Lucasfilm will release an official statement regarding when we will expand our ebook program. Until then we ask for your patience. Thank you. (ES)

It appears that the release date and pricing information posted yesterday may be only placeholder data, so we may have to wait a little longer for these books to come out. But it is certainly a good indication just how hard the folks at Lucasfilm and Random House are working to bring the full catalogue to the ebook format.

Lightsaber Rattling will stay on top of this subject and post more news and information as it becomes available.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Lucasfilm has announced their official partner for the 3D conversion of Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Prime Focus. ILM Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll will be supervising the stereo conversion of the film into 3D using Prime Focus' proprietary View-D technique.

Prime Focus founder and CEO Namit Malhotra said: "Wherever you are in the world, the Star Wars films have become part of the very fabric of film-making -- the epitome of the big cinema experience. To be chosen by Lucasfilm as a trusted partner, and to be given the time and opportunity to represent this series as a new experience to both old and new audiences alike, is an incredible honor. For a project of this importance and magnitude, Lucasfilm and ILM would only have chosen a company with the best talent in the industry, leading proprietary technology and infrastructure, a production-proven pipeline and unmatched scale. I am hugely proud that Prime Focus is that company."

For the benefit of Star Wars Expanded Universe fans, I have used the Random House Smart Archive Public Access page that was linked to by Club Jade and Knights Archive, and following Club Jade's instructions with a few "special modifications," I edited the search based on the 8/17/11 release date and the ebook format and using the spreadsheet view option came up with a list of 98 titles that are all listed as ebooks.

In many ways the penultimate book in a large series is the most difficult to write. The author must begin the process of weaving th...

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